ABSTRACT
Employees may often wonder whether becoming a parent will affect their future career. Will parenthood affect their career prospects? What about decision-makers’ perceptions of their workplace commitment or engagement? In this chapter, we provide an overview of the stereotypes about working mothers and fathers. Of course, such stereotypes are context dependent and may differ between cultures and society. Moreover, they are subject to changes over time. Therefore, we focus our analysis on those prevailing across countries and use the most recent research available. We explain how these stereotypes can impact working parents’ career prospects as well as outline their potential origins. We conclude with examples and recommendations of how to deal with these stereotypes about working parents.
